[Spoiler (click to open)] The German Navy of the Second World War, known as the Kriegsmarine, became a feared and respected adversary across and beneath the high seas, its marauding U-boat ‘wolf-packs’ coming close to defeating the Allies in the Battle of the Atlantic. Jak Mallmann Showell examines the different roles of the German Navy, and its organisation and training activities during the war years. Surface operations are described in detail, together with the U-boats, weaponry and bases. A useful guide to German Navy uniforms and insignia is included, together with full details of rank structure and specialist trades. Fully illustrated with maps and unusual photographs, many of them previously unpublished, this authoritative study of the formidable Kriegsmarine in the Second World War will appeal to anyone with an interest in the armed forces of the Third Reich. JAK P. MALLMANN SHOWELL is the son of a Kriegsmarine U-boat man who was killed in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1944. He has written many books on the Kriegsmarine, and the U-boat war in particular, including U-Boats in Camera 1939-1945 (Sutton, 1999) and Hitler’s U-Boat Bases (Sutton, 2002). Jacket illustrations: minesweeper M113 at sea; coaling crew aboard M133; ammunition carrier; sailor of a training unit; Arado reconnaissance aircraft; naval radio room, including the naval version of the Enigma code writer; minesweeper M145’s hull at close quarters (all author’s collection).